Relief-valve.



J. ERWOOD.

, RELIEF VALVE.

I APPLIGATION FILED OCT-I, 1907. 901 ,084. Patented Oct. 13, 1908.

A V J Q V 3 0 n HAVA MIN 1 2 M Z V I I L 5% I W R 2 H THE NORRISPETERSJI WASH H m n I:

UNITED STATES rATEN'r oEE oE. f

JOHN ERWOOD, or cn oaeo, ILLINOIS.

RELIEF-VALVE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J ornv Enwoon, of Chicago, in the State of Illinois,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Relief-Valves, ofwhich the following is a specification. v

This invention relates to that class of valves known asreliefvalves,'whereinthe valve is kept .closed by means of aweighted lever,permitting the surplus of a desired fixed pressure to escape by means ofovercoming the gravity of the weight and raising the valve off of itsseat, The resistance of the weight, however, is unmoved, and offers afixed resistance to the current of steam, regardless of volume or liftof the valve.

The object of my invention is to enable those skilled in the art tobuild a valve in such a way that, after it has been adjusted to open adesired distance against a fixed resistance, the valve willautomatically disengage itself from the fixed resistance, and willfreely swing back out of the passage way of the onrushing volume, andpresent an unrestricted passage of the full area of the pipe on which it.isfitted. I have accomplished this result by means outlined in theaccompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation showing thevalve body and bonnet. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation through thecenter of the body, and Fig. 3 is a sectional plan of Fig. 1 throughline AA, Figs. 4:, 5 and Gare enlarged details of. the adjustable.collars used for controlling the range of compression of spring 4 Figs.1 and 3, similar figures representing. similar objects.

In the drawings, 1 is'a valvebody, recessed on one side to permit of thevalve being swung back and the placing of the operating shafts therein,and fitted with a bonnet (2).

3 is a gage glass for observing the volume of water in the bodywhen'flooded, approximately to the height of the dotted linethroughFigs. 1 and 2.

1) is a spiral compression spring fitted in a swinging cage andsuspended on a fixed stud (5), screwed into the body.

6 is a grooved wheel secured to the bottom spring piece and tracking onspring lever (7). The valve disk (8) is hinged toa trunnion shaft (9),by means of two lugs (10), 7 cast thereon and pinned 'loosely'to shaft(9), the body of the valve being bored Specification of Letters Patent.Application filed October 7, 1907. Serial No. 396,235.

the opposite side.

Patented Oct. 13, mos.

to receive it, and the shaftheld in position by means of plug (11).Pressure is applied to the back of the valve disk by means of pressurelever- 12), which is fixed on pressure shaft (13), which is set in abored boss 0 on the inside of the body at one side and passes outthrough the stufiing box on the opposite side, on which is fixed theadjusting mechanism shownv in the larger detail of Fig. 6, to bedescribed further on.

In order that the pressure lever (12) will pick up the valve disk whenthe spring lever is raised by hand, I have cast thereon a square bearingfoot to travel between two overhanging guide strips (14) cast on theback of the valve disk, the operation of which is shown in the dottedoutline of Fig.

2, wherein the point at which the pressure lever bears on the back ofthe disk changes with its lift, as the pressure opens the valve andincreases the resistance on the back of the disk by throwingthe force ofthe spring out of the center to one side, and so bringing a pressure onshaft (9) to counteract the change inthe leverage of the spring, as forexample, if tenpounds be exerted on the center of the back of the diskby lever (12), shaft (9) is neutral and acts simply as a hinge, and apressure of ten pounds will open the valve. If the ten pounds is appliedto the, edge of the disk, its effect will be to double its resistanceagainst opening and shaft (9) is called upon to resist a lift of thatside of the disk equal to the weight on I require this condition toovercome or counterpoise the weakening of the spring eifect in forming atoggle, as the spring lever rises and tends to increase the anglebetween the spring lever and spring, and the spring becomes lesseii'ective. This example is purposely overdrawn to make clear my designof a traveling center on the disk and one of the needs of two. shafts.

I have shown on spring lever (7) several small recesses (15) one ofwhich grooved wheel (6) is supposed to be engaging and the object ofthese recesses or indents becomes evident when I describe the action ofthe valve as follows: The pressure of steam or air on the underside ofthe disk tends to raise it and permit of escape through the body. Thisis governed by the pressure of the spring, which, upon yielding to thetendency of the valve .disk to rise, permits of the lever changing froma horizontal plane to the perpendicular line of the spring, to anincline, and, in consequence, the grooved wheel (6) tends to run downand off. Vere it not for the recesses this tendency would be immediate(plus the static friction in the several parts) upon the increase inangle.

' The drawings show the angle between the perpendicular line of thespring to the plane of the lever to be 90 deg., and by placing thegrooved wheel in either of the recesses (15) this angularity is eitheraugmented or diminished, and the point at which the grooved wheel (6)will slip or roll off, and thus relieve the lever of resistance, ischanged accordingly. After the spring and frame is released, by thisprocess, the end of the spring lever will clear stud and will allow thevalve disk and interior mechanism to pass back into the recess of thebody and present an unobstructed passage through the valve body, thespring and frame in the meantime, having been pushed, or raised, out ofthe way by the action of the spring lever. At such times as the valve isto be thrown out of service it can be locked back by setting the groovedwheel of the spring frame against the back edge of the spring lever asshown by the dotted lines of Fig. 1. This enables the valve to be placedin any position, when it is not necessary to flood the body with water,as referred to previously, and lock it, open or closed.

I have previously referred to the adjusting mechanism on the outer endof the shaft (13), and I now proceed to detail its functions, of whichthere are two. The first is that of enabling the spring lever to travelthrough a greater period of a circle than the interior mechanism; thesecond is that of enabling the spring end of the spring lever to beelevated or depressed at will, in order to increase or decrease thepressure of the spring upon it, both of these functions are adjustable.To accomplish this, I employ two collars, as shown by large detail Figs.4: 5 and 6. Fig. at, is rotary on the shaft (13) and Fig. 5, is fastthereon. It will be noticed that Fig. at, has three lugs east thereon,lug (1(3) being corded out to receive the spring lever, which is madeadjustable in length and secured by set screw (17), while lugs (19 and21) are cast on the collar at a tangent to the shaft on which itoscillates, and

serves as stops in governing its movement on the shaft 13). The plan ofthis collar is shown in Fig. 3, and constitutes the inner one on the endof shaft Fig. 5, is the companion collar and is fixed firmly to shaft(13). It also has two lugs (22 and 23) east tangential thereon, exceptthat they are offset over the side of the collar, and intended tointercept the path of rotation of lugs (19 and 21) on Fig. t, and engagethem. The plan of this collar is also shown in Fig. 3,

and constitutes the outer collar on the end of shaft (13), the degree ofmovement of the loose collar being governed by the hand wheel and. screw(20), as also the angle of the spring lever to the center line of thespring. The efiect of these tight and loose collars is further detailedin l ig. ((3), wherein the spring lever is shown carrying over the loosecollar on the shaft, relieving the downward points of contact ofadjusting screw on lug (23), passing around and bringing lugs (21 and incontact and turning shaft (13), thus operating the interior mechanismthrough the stufling box (2%). It will also be observed that, while theeffect of the adjusting screw (20) relatively changes the position ofthe spring lever (7) when the *alve is closed, the posi tion of thelever when the valve is open remains the same by means of the two fixedpoints of contact of lugs (21. and

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new therein, anddesire Letters Patent thereon, is

1. In a valve, the combination of a suitable valve body provided with astraight passageway therethrough, a. disk to close said passagewayhinged to swing to one side of said passageway, and a shaft locatednonconcentric to the hinge of said disk, connected to said disk tooperate the same.

2. In a valve, a suitable valve body provided with a passagetherethrough, a hinged disk fitted to close said passage, guides on theback of said disk, a pressure shaft mounted in said valve body, and anarm rigidly secured to said shaft having its free end arranged to slidein said guides.

3. In a valve, the combination of a. suit.- able valve body, a hingedvalve disk, a pressure shaft extending through said body with one endextending outside of the *alve body, means for exerting a constantrotating pressure to the exposed end of said shaft, an arm secured tosaid shaft having its free end in constant engagement with said disk.

4. In a relief valve, a suitable valve body, a hinged valve disk, ashaft having one end exposed to the exterior of said valve bodyoperatively connected to said, disk, means on the exterior of said valvebody comprising an adjustable spring and lever for exerting a rotatingpressure to said shaft.

In a relief valve, a suitable valve body, a hinged disk, a shaft in saidvalve body having one end extending to the exterior of same operativelyconnected to said disk, a. lever mounted on the exposed end of saidshaft ar ranged with lost motion relative to the shaft, and a spring toexert a constant pressure on said lever whereby the said disk is held toits seat.

6. In a relief valve, a suitable valve body, a valve disk, a pressureshaft operatiwdy connected to said disk, a lever mounted on saidpressure shaft, having lost motion relative thereto, a plurality ofnotches in said lever, and a roller, spring pressed into one'of saidnotches whereby said disk is held to its seat and a partial rise of saiddisk will cause said roller to leave its notch.

7. I11 a relief valve, a suitable valve body, a hinged valve disk, ashaft in said valve body having one end extending to the exterior ofsame operatively connected to said disk, a lever mounted on the exposedend of said shaft having lost motion relative thereto, means for varyingthe extent of lost motion between said lever and said shaft, a spring toexert a constant pressure on said lever and a transparent gagecommunicating with the interior of the valve body.

. 8. In a valve, a suitable valve body provided with a straight passagetherethrough, a disk fitted to close said passage hinged to swing to oneside of said passage leaving a clear passage, a pressure shaft mountedin said valve body and an arm rigidly secured to said shaft having itsfree end slidably connected to said disk.

9. In a valve, a suitable valve body provided with a passagetherethrough, a disk fitted to close said passage hinged to swing to oneside of said passage leaving a clear passage, a pressure shaft extendingthrough said valve body with one end'extending outside of the same,means for exerting a constant rotating pressure to the exposed end ofsaid shaft and an arm secured to said shaft having its free end inconstant engagement with said disk.

10. In a valve, a suitable valve body provided with a straightpassageway therethrough, a disk fitted to close said passageway hingedto swing to one side of said passageway leaving a clear passage, a shafthaving one end exposed to the exterior of said valve body operativelyconnected to said disk, and means comprising an adjustable with theinterior spring and lever for exerting a rotating pressure to saidshaft.

11. In a valve, a suitable valve body provided with a straight passagetherethrough a disk fitted to close said passage hinged to swing to oneside of said passage to leave a clear passage, a shaft in said valvebody having one end extending to the exterior of same operativelyconnected to said disk, a lever mounted on the exposed end of said shaftarranged with lost motion relative to the shaft, and a spring to exert aconstant pressure on said lever whereby the said disk is held to itsseat.

12. In a valve, a suitable valve body provided with a straight passagetherethrough, a disk fitted to close said passage hinged to swing to oneside of said passage, a pressure shaft operatively connected to saiddisk, a lever mounted on said pressure shaft having lost motion relativethereto, a plurality of notches in said lever, and a roller springpressed into one of said notches whereby said disk is held in positionclosing said passage and a partial rise of said disk will cause saidroller to leave its cooperating notch.

13. In a valve, a suitable valve body provided with a straight passagetherethrough, a disk fitted to close said passage hinged to swing to oneside of the passage, a shaft in said valve body having one end extendingto the exterior of same operatively connected to said disk, a levermounted on the exposed end of said shaft having lost motion relativethereto, means for varying the extent of lost motion between said leverand said shaft, a spring toexert a constant pressure on said lever and atransparent gage communicating of the valve body.

JOHN ERWOOD. Witnesses:

I-IENRY S. MERRILL, EDWARD O. WENTWORTH.

